The Mongols gained fame in the 13th century when under Chinggis KHAAN they established a huge Eurasian empire through conquest. After his death the empire was divided into several powerful Mongol states, but these broke apart in the 14th century. The Mongols eventually retired to their original steppe homelands and in the late 17th century came under Chinese rule. Mongolia declared its independence from the Manchu-led Qing Empire in 1911 and achieved limited autonomy until 1919, when it again came under Chinese control. The Mongolian Revolution of 1921 ended Chinese dominance, and a communist regime, the Mongolian People’s Republic, took power in 1924.

The modern country of Mongolia, represents only part of the Mongols' historical homeland; today, more ethnic Mongolians live in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China than in Mongolia. Since the country's peaceful democratic revolution in 1990, the ex-communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) - which took the name Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) in 2010 - has competed for political power with the Democratic Party (DP) and several other smaller parties, including a new party formed by former President ENKHBAYAR, which confusingly adopted for itself the MPRP name. In the country's most recent parliamentary elections in June 2016, Mongolians handed the MPP overwhelming control of Parliament, largely pushing out the DP, which had overseen a sharp decline in Mongolia’s economy during its control of Parliament in the preceding years. Mongolians elected a DP member, Khaltmaa BATTULGA, as president in 2017.

limited natural freshwater resources in some areas; the burning of soft coal in power plants and the lack of enforcement of environmental laws leads to air pollution in Ulaanbaatar; deforestation and overgrazing increase soil erosion from wind and rain; water pollution; desertification and mining activities have a deleterious effect on the environment

This is the population pyramid for Mongolia. A population pyramid illustrates the age and sex structure of a country's population and may provide insights about political and social stability, as well as economic development. The population is distributed along the horizontal axis, with males shown on the left and females on the right. The male and female populations are broken down into 5-year age groups represented as horizontal bars along the vertical axis, with the youngest age groups at the bottom and the oldest at the top. The shape of the population pyramid gradually evolves over time based on fertility, mortality, and international migration trends.

For additional information, please see the entry for Population pyramid on the Definitions and Notes page under the References tab.

Dependency ratios:

total dependency ratio:48.5(2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:42.7(2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:5.8(2015 est.)

potential support ratio:17.3(2015 est.)

Median age:

total:28.8 years

male:28 years

female:29.6 years(2018 est.)

country comparison to the world:
129

Population growth rate:

1.11%(2018 est.)

country comparison to the world:
99

Birth rate:

18.2 births/1,000 population(2018 est.)

country comparison to the world:
92

Death rate:

6.3 deaths/1,000 population(2018 est.)

country comparison to the world:
152

Net migration rate:

-0.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population(2018 est.)

country comparison to the world:
136

Population distribution:

sparsely distributed population throughout the country; the capital of Ulaanbaatar and the northern city of Darhan support the highest population densities

Urbanization:

urban population:68.4% of total population(2018)

rate of urbanization:1.63% annual rate of change(2015-20 est.)

Major urban areas - population:

1.52 million ULAANBAATAR (capital)
(2018)

Sex ratio:

at birth:1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:1.04 male(s)/female

15-24 years:1.03 male(s)/female

25-54 years:0.94 male(s)/female

55-64 years:0.84 male(s)/female

65 years and over:0.68 male(s)/female

total population:0.96 male(s)/female(2018 est.)

Mother's mean age at first birth:

20.5 years(2008 est.)

note: median age at first birth among women 20-24

Maternal mortality rate:

44 deaths/100,000 live births(2015 est.)

country comparison to the world:
102

Infant mortality rate:

total:20.5 deaths/1,000 live births

male:23.5 deaths/1,000 live births

female:17.3 deaths/1,000 live births(2018 est.)

country comparison to the world:
80

Life expectancy at birth:

total population:70.2 years

male:66 years

female:74.7 years(2018 est.)

country comparison to the world:
160

Total fertility rate:

2.04 children born/woman(2018 est.)

country comparison to the world:
110

Contraceptive prevalence rate:

54.6%(2013)

Drinking water source:

improved:urban:66.4% of population

rural:59.2% of population

total:64.4% of population

unimproved:urban:33.6% of population

rural:40.8% of population

total:35.6% of population(2015 est.)

Current Health Expenditure:

3.9%(2015)

Physicians density:

2.89 physicians/1,000 population(2016)

Hospital bed density:

7 beds/1,000 population(2012)

Sanitation facility access:

improved:urban:66.4% of population(2015 est.)

rural:42.6% of population(2015 est.)

total:59.7% of population(2015 est.)

unimproved:urban:33.6% of population(2015 est.)

rural:57.4% of population(2015 est.)

total:40.3% of population(2015 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:

<.1%(2017 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:

<1000(2017 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:

<100(2018 est.)

Obesity - adult prevalence rate:

20.6%(2016)

country comparison to the world:
96

Children under the age of 5 years underweight:

0.9%(2016)

country comparison to the world:
123

Education expenditures:

4.1% of GDP(2017)

country comparison to the world:
105

Literacy:

definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
(2015 est.)

total population:98.4%

male:98.2%

female:98.6%(2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):

total:15 years

male:14 years

female:16 years(2015)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:

total:17.9%

male:15%

female:22.6%(2017 est.)

country comparison to the world:
77

Government :: Mongolia

Country name:

conventional long form:
none

conventional short form:
Mongolia

local long form:
none

local short form:
Mongol Uls

former:
Outer Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic

etymology:
the name means "Land of the Mongols" in Latin; the Mongolian name Mongol Uls translates as "Mongol State"

daylight saving time:
+1hr, begins last Saturday in March; ends last Saturday in September

note: Mongolia has two time zones - Ulaanbaatar Time (8 hours in advance of UTC) and Hovd Time (7 hours in advance of UTC)

etymology: the name means "red hero" in Mongolian and honors national hero Damdin Sukhbaatar, leader of the partisan army that with Soviet Red Army help, liberated Mongolia from Chinese occupation in the early 1920s

Naadam (games) holiday (commemorates independence from China in the 1921 Revolution), 11-15 July Constitution Day (marks the date that the Mongolian People's Republic was created under a new constitution), 26 November (1924)

amendments:
proposed by the State Great Hural, by the president of the republic, by the government, or by petition submitted to the State Great Hural by the Constitutional Court; conducting referenda on proposed amendments requires at least two-thirds majority vote of the State Great Hural; passage of amendments by the State Great Hural requires at least three-quarters majority vote; passage by referendum requires majority participation of qualified voters and a majority of votes; amended 1999, 2000
(2019)

Legal system:

civil law system influenced by Soviet and Romano-Germanic legal systems; constitution ambiguous on judicial review of legislative acts

International law organization participation:

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

Citizenship:

citizenship by birth:
no

citizenship by descent only:
both parents must be citizens of Mongolia; one parent if born within Mongolia

cabinet:
Cabinet nominated by the prime minister in consultation with the president, confirmed by the State Great Hural (parliament)

elections/appointments:
presidential candidates nominated by political parties represented in the State Great Hural and directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 26 June 2017 with a runoff held 7 July 2017 (next to be held in 2021); following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition is usually elected prime minister by the State Great Hural

description:
unicameral State Great Hural or Ulsyn Ikh Khural (76 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote; each constituency requires at least 50% voter participation for the poll to be valid; members serve 4-year terms)

highest courts:
Supreme Court (consists of the Chief Justice and 24 judges organized into civil, criminal, and administrative chambers); Constitutional Court or Tsets (consists of the chairman and 8 members)

judge selection and term of office:
Supreme Court chief justice and judges appointed by the president upon recommendation by the General Council of Courts - a 14-member body of judges and judicial officials - to the State Great Hural; appointment is for life; chairman of the Constitutional Court elected from among its members; members appointed from nominations by the State Great Hural - 3 each by the president, the State Great Hural, and the Supreme Court; appointment is 6 years; chairmanship limited to a single renewable 3-year term

Democratic Party or DP [Sodnomzundui ERDENE]Mongolian National Democratic Party or MNDP [Bayanjargal TSOGTGEREL]Mongolian People's Party or MPP [Ukhnaa KHURELSUKH]Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party or MPRP [Nambar ENKHBAYAR]

three, equal vertical bands of red (hoist side), blue, and red; centered on the hoist-side red band in yellow is the national emblem ("soyombo" - a columnar arrangement of abstract and geometric representation for fire, sun, moon, earth, water, and the yin-yang symbol); blue represents the sky, red symbolizes progress and prosperity

Foreign direct investment in Mongolia's extractive industries – which are based on extensive deposits of copper, gold, coal, molybdenum, fluorspar, uranium, tin, and tungsten - has transformed Mongolia's landlocked economy from its traditional dependence on herding and agriculture. Exports now account for more than 40% of GDP. Mongolia depends on China for more than 60% of its external trade - China receives some 90% of Mongolia's exports and supplies Mongolia with more than one-third of its imports. Mongolia also relies on Russia for 90% of its energy supplies, leaving it vulnerable to price increases. Remittances from Mongolians working abroad, particularly in South Korea, are significant.

Soviet assistance, at its height one-third of GDP, disappeared almost overnight in 1990 and 1991 at the time of the dismantlement of the USSR. The following decade saw Mongolia endure both deep recession, because of political inaction, and natural disasters, as well as strong economic growth, because of market reforms and extensive privatization of the formerly state-run economy. The country opened a fledgling stock exchange in 1991. Mongolia joined the WTO in 1997 and seeks to expand its participation in regional economic and trade regimes.

Growth averaged nearly 9% per year in 2004-08 largely because of high copper prices globally and new gold production. By late 2008, Mongolia was hit by the global financial crisis and Mongolia's real economy contracted 1.3% in 2009. In early 2009, the IMF reached a $236 million Stand-by Arrangement with Mongolia and it emerged from the crisis with a stronger banking sector and better fiscal management. In October 2009, Mongolia passed long-awaited legislation on an investment agreement to develop the Oyu Tolgoi (OT) mine, among the world's largest untapped copper-gold deposits. However, a dispute with foreign investors developing OT called into question the attractiveness of Mongolia as a destination for foreign investment. This caused a severe drop in FDI, and a slowing economy, leading to the dismissal of Prime Minister Norovyn ALTANKHUYAG in November 2014. The economy had grown more than 10% per year between 2011 and 2013 - largely on the strength of commodity exports and high government spending - before slowing to 7.8% in 2014, and falling to the 2% level in 2015. Growth rebounded from a brief 1.6% contraction in the third quarter of 2016 to 5.8% during the first three quarters of 2017, largely due to rising commodity prices.

The May 2015 agreement with Rio Tinto to restart the OT mine and the subsequent $4.4 billion finance package signing in December 2015 stemmed the loss of investor confidence. The current government has made restoring investor trust and reviving the economy its top priority, but has failed to invigorate the economy in the face of the large drop-off in foreign direct investment, mounting external debt, and a sizeable budget deficit. Mongolia secured a $5.5 billion financial assistance package from the IMF and a host of international creditors in May 2017, which is expected to improve Mongolia’s long-term fiscal and economic stability as long as Ulaanbaatar can advance the agreement’s difficult contingent reforms, such as consolidating the government’s off-balance sheet liabilities and rehabilitating the Mongolian banking sector.

general assessment:
network is improving with international direct dialing available in many areas; a fiber-optic network has been installed that is improving broadband and communication services between major urban centers with multiple companies providing inter-city fiber-optic cable services; compared to other Asian countries, Mongolia's growth in telecommunications is moderate; mobile broadband is growing with 4 competitive MNOs (mobile network operators) along with better tarrifs; 3G mobile broadband products are very popular with 4G services by 2022; in May 2018 a South Korean company completed the sale of 40% stake back to Mongolian government
(2018)

domestic:
very low fixed-line teledensity 10 per 100; there are four mobile-cellular providers and subscribership is increasing with 131 per 100 persons
(2018)

following a law passed in 2005, Mongolia's state-run radio and TV provider converted to a public service provider; also available are 68 radio and 160 TV stations, including multi-channel satellite and cable TV providers; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters are available
(2019)

note: national operator Ulaanbaatar Railway is jointly owned by the Mongolian Government and by the Russian State Railway

country comparison to the world:
78

Roadways:

total:113,200 km(2017)

paved:10,600 km(2017)

unpaved:102,600 km(2017)

country comparison to the world:
44

Waterways:

580 km(the only waterway in operation is Lake Hovsgol) (135 km); Selenge River (270 km) and Orhon River (175 km) are navigable but carry little traffic; lakes and rivers ice free from May to September)(2010)

18-27 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; 1-year conscript service obligation in army or air forces or police for males only; after conscription, soldiers can contract into military service for 2 or 4 years; citizens can also voluntarily join the armed forces
(2017)